Finally, Freeman

Back in 2005 while I was working on a story about the last Portland State team to win 18 games, I got the chance to talk to a couple of teammates of the legendary Freeman Williams.

A picture of Williams releasing his silky smooth jumper looms large over the Stott Center and his enigmatic smile watches over the gym's lobby in the form of a portrait, yet trying to get a read on what happened to the second all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I history and the greatest athlete to ever come out of the Park Blocks was like trying to track down a ghost.

Teammates still marveled at the way his shot never seemed to even touch the rim, just grazing the bottom of the net as if it were required. Teri Mariani, one of the few athletic department members who was around when "Free" played from 1974-78, wondered how many more points he would have scored if the three-point line had been in place.

Yet all the stories ended in the same cloud of wondering what happened to him. Rumors of drug use and homelessness kept popping up but nobody knew for sure because nobody really kept up with Williams after his up-and-down NBA career.

Then, a couple of month ago, I came across this YouTube feature on Williams' fellow Los Angeles legend Raymond Lewis and there he was: "Free."

He looked a little older and a little rounder, but sitting in a nondescript white room wearing a plaid-ish shirt you could see the frame of the man who did things with a basketball no one else could do.

I got in touch with one of the people involved in the feature and asked for his help in tracking down the greatest mystery at PSU. The man I talked with was very friendly and said he'd do what he could, but that the chances weren't great.

I never heard back from him and decided the mystery would remain. Until today.